India interested in becoming a ‘world leader’, not a ‘superpower’: BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi

He was speaking on the second day of a three-day seminar organised by Delhi University’s Political Science department on “Revisiting the Ideas of India from ‘Swaraj’ to ‘New India’”.

“Cultural nationalism emerges from the basic fundamental ideas, ethos, and way of life of India, i.e. Hinduism. Hinduism is a word that is heard a lot but understood very little. Rather misunderstood a lot,” he said.

Trivedi said it was the only religion in the world that “allows discussions on its religious texts”. “We are the sole religion where there is a tradition of debate in the Vedas. In all, any other religion, it is only sermon, precept. Jo keh diya gaya, sun lo. Idhar udhar ki baat kahi to nark me jaoge aur kahin to keh diya gaya sar kaat diya jayega (Listen to what is being said. If you falter, you will go to hell and in some place it was said that you will be beheaded),” he said.

Trivedi spoke of the connection between science and Hinduism and said even the CERN laboratory, where the Higgs Boson particle was discovered, had a dancing statue of Natraj.

“Jaake dekh lijiyega Mongolia me jitni kabren hai na, including Chengis Khan ki kabr par bhi trishul bhi laga hai, damru bhi laga hai. If I asked you ki unka religion kya tha, to kehte hain Tengri. That is nothing but a relative of Tantra, and the god of Tantra is Lord Shiva (You can go and check even the graves in Mongolia, including that of Chengis Khan have trishul and drum on them. If you ask their religion, they say Tengri. It is nothing but a relative of Tantra, of which Lord Shiva is the god),” he said.

He said India was not interested in becoming a superpower but rather having values that inspire: “We do not want to dominate the world because in domination, you control somebody’s mind, not their feelings. So we want to motivate the world. That’s why we don’t want to become a superpower but a world leader.”

He said there was an attempt to show both internal and external conflict in Hinduism. “There is an attempt to show there were differences between Buddhism and Sanatan Dharma. With due humility, I would like to ask – show me any place where Lord Buddha has said in writing that he started his own religion… Historians, especially British historians, tried to portray it as a conflict,” he said.